A whole year ago . . . we had Halle!

 Joaquin is already teaching Halle the art of wrestling - we will have no whimpy girls in this house!  We have had a busy couple of weeks (like everyone else I'm sure) so here are some of the highlights. 

 

 We were delighted to have my sister Emily & her family come hang out for the weekend before Thanksgiving (they live in Spokane, Washington).  Emily & I have been close since well . . . forever I guess.  I was the "older" sister by birth but it seems like I've followed right behind her as a Mom.  She had Lexi, I had Quinn.  She had Jayda, I had Jessi.  She had Ian, I had Josh.  She ran a marathon, I ran one too (with her persuading)  The list goes on & on.  Now I'm just waiting for her to follow in my footsteps & have one more baby, be PTO President, move to Idaho - right Emily?!?

 Quinn, Lexi, & Halle

Ian, Josh, Jessi, & Jayda

 The weekend after Thanksgiving I had a NAPA Advertising Meeting in SLC, UT.  I decided to be brave, let the older kids skip school on Friday, and drove down with the 5 kids Thursday night.  We had a blast at Grandma & Grampa's with Cafe Rio, the hot tub, and cousins.  Quinn, Jessi, & Josh have reminded me over & over again how unfair it was that Shelby & Halle got to see so much of the Eckersley's when Shelby had surgery.  "Why didn't you check us out of school for the week?"  Ya, that was the first thing I thought of when Shelby was hurt, uh huh. 

Now on the the main event . . . Halle is 1 year old!  Jessi helped me make this beautiful barbie cake for her.  Halle especially liked the bubble gum tape (doesn't everybody?)

 

 We let her eat the piece all by herself - it's tradition.  I don't know though, with a yellow cake she didn't come out nearly as dirty as our other children.

 Aunt Jesalee got her a beautiful soft & fuzzy blanket like her cousin Zoe has.

 I know it seems crazy that the Smith's all carry on this tradition of balancing children on their hands, but look at that grin!  No wonder why they keep doing it.  (Halle's grin is pretty big too)

 I love Quinn's grin in the background, "My turn next Dad!"

 Last night Grampa Dennis pulled out Josh's first tooth!  Josh was a little nervous (with good reason) to have Grampa wiggle his tooth.  The ever irritating Uncle Kade was trying to persuade Josh by saying the Tooth Fairy was having a Christmas Special - $20/per tooth!  When it came out we all cheered then stopped for a minute and laughed. Then we reminded Josh the Tooth Fairy was visiting Uncle Kade's house - not ours.  Hee, hee.

Today was Shelby & Jade's Christmas Program at their Pre-School.  Shelby was ecstatic when she opened her gift exchange of a puppy purse.  She even jumped up and down saying, "Thanks, thanks Emma!" (she's the cute little girl who brought the gift and had a really hard time - her Mom told me later - letting it go) 

Merry Christmas Everyone!